The Final Terror (1983)

Plot Summary:"This terrifying movie takes place out in the backwoods where a group of rangers go camping. But when one of the group snaps, and leaves one by one some of the group disappears. It is left up to the rest of the group to defend themselves against this evil. With the killer disguised as the forest surroundings, one of their group held hostage, and a terrifying attack on their tour bus leaving it incapable of travel and one of them with a major injury they have to turn the tables on the killer."

This old school version of 'Wrong Turn' has a strong cast, with early appearances from Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Adrien Zmed and rather shockingly, Joe Pantoliano!! Proof if ever it were needed that all the greatest stars got their start in the horror genre.

A group of forest rangers take a group of young girls into the deep dark woods for a long weekend and soon regeret it, as they are stalked by something which disguises itself within the woods.

This film does boast some good moments of tension and is quite unsettling, but it is ultimately a let down as hardly anyone dies. Trust me, there are plenty of people that could have got it, and should have dammit!!

The film has some gore and a cringeworthy scene that sees Mark 'The Master' Metcalf of 'Buffy' fame have a nude sex scene!!

What annoyed me the most was the fact that the rangers knew exactly what to do to survive the terror and even the dumb girls didn't ruin it for them, we needed a girl to freeze up or scream to attract attention and see them all chased and slaughtered!! They were far too good at surviving in the forest for my liking!

Watching the film, I could spot a hell of a lot of scenes that have obviously inspired recent horror movies such as the scene on the bus which is copied in 'Jeeper's Creeper's 2' and the scene around the camp fire which was copied in 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and more recently 'Cabin Fever'.

OVERALL SUMMARY
The film is not a total loss, a lot of people involved have gone on to bigger and better things but it simply didn't deliver enough of the required horror conventions that were needed here.